[ctwhitechin]

So the water heater burst a few days ago, leaked for about 2 hours before I noticed and damage control was put into action, but carpet in closet in basement and close to entrance to boiler room soaked. Room with water heater was just plain concrete so that has dried. I would say maybe 10% of basement carpet soaked, rest dry, water never made it that far. I have pulled back as much of the wet carpet as possible, have two fans going, a dehumidifier, and prior to all this I used a wetvac and pulled up about 5 gallons of water out of the carpet. Carpet seems to be drying slowly but surely (very slowly), but basement now stinks, any ideas what to do to get rid of the stink???? Also worried about mold. I'm torn between keeping the basement locked up to let the dehumidifier su k up the evaporating moisture, or open the door and the window and let it air, and shut off the dehumidifier.

What a mess.

[HeadedWest]

Consider hiring a contractor to clean and dry the carpet fully. A contractor can treat it with commercial anti-mold enzyme spray.

Use dehumidifier and/or air conditioner to dry out the air. (I recommend sealing it up; the outside air now is too humid.) Leave lights on (mold grows in the dark). Keep the air moving with fans, too.

Also: if the carpet touches baseboards, check to see if they got wet (underside and back). Should remove them and dry out or replace them. You can seal the bottom and back with shellac or Kilz type products. Check bottom of drywall or paneling for dampness and mold before replacing baseboards.

Full solution: rip up the carpet, get the concrete underneath treated with anti-mold stuff. Then get new carpet. Biggest $, most certain outcome.

[JViello]

Yea hi, the forum's resident flood mitigation guy here. I'll DM you my number, not necessarily for business, but at least advice. You're heading for problems quickly if you wait any longer.

[JayCT]

I was just going to tell you to DM JViello on this but he beat me to it. Jay

[46Barb]

Did you contact your homeowner's insurance company. I know when this happened to my father, the insurance company paid for a service to come in to clean up, dry out, and also replaced his damaged carpeting as well as repainting.

[mlassoff]

Yes, I agree.. Don't wait another minute. The damage can be mitigated if it's dealt with early enough. Call JViello or another contractor now.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by mlassoff

Yes, I agree.. Don't wait another minute. The damage can be mitigated if it's dealt with early enough. Call JViello or another contractor now.

We've been talking on DM, I've given him some information and what to look for...I think he's got it under control.

ctwhitechin, you DID pull that baseboard and inspect right?

[ctwhitechin]

Correct looks dry to me, some sheetrock in the boiler room did get wet a little, seems to have dried out. Pulled every inch of carpet up and padding and hauled to dump. Have dehumidifier going, and fans. Stench is 100% gone so that is good I see no moisture feel no moisture basement no longer smells damp, now I have a good excuse to paint basement since no paint will drip on carpet. All that's down there is bare concrete, went the expensive route but I want it done right so when house goes on market soon people will see a nice finished basement. And dry

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by ctwhitechin

Correct looks dry to me, some sheetrock in the boiler room did get wet a little, seems to have dried out. Pulled every inch of carpet up and padding and hauled to dump. Have dehumidifier going, and fans. Stench is 100% gone so that is good I see no moisture feel no moisture basement no longer smells damp, now I have a good excuse to paint basement since no paint will drip on carpet. All that's down there is bare concrete, went the expensive route but I want it done right so when house goes on market soon people will see a nice finished basement. And dry

Forgot how high you said the flooding was but I remember I did work in a basement that had 2 feet of water in it. After the flood all they did was pull up the carpet. Long story short they couldnt figure out why the outlets didnt work down there for months. I replaced them because all the terminals on the outlets were rusted.

Not sure how high your flood was but hopefully you dont have low plugs or baseboard heat...or phone wires that got wet.

[ctwhitechin]

Oh no nothing like that carpet was wet in some parts, most of basement remained dry, baseboard heat is on opposite side of room water never made it close to there came close to computer etc but never made it there either.

I pulled one wood molding where water seeped underneath between room where water heater leaked and basement closet, appeared very dry. I went the safe route, carpet and padding was very wet and stunk in the area it got wet...so instead of risk mold and trying to dry it out, we ripped it all up and took to dump. Bare DRY concrete floor down there now.